Aerospace Partners
Boom Supersonic
Adams County and Colorado Air and Space Port (CASP) announce a major milestone in aerospace development as Boom Supersonic selected CASP as the site of its Symphony engine test facility in April 2025. The company will repurpose a former hypersonic testing site at CASP for development of Symphony, the bespoke propulsion system for its supersonic airliner, Overture.
PD Aerospace
By signing a letter of intent, Adams County’s Colorado Air and Space Port and Japanese-based PD AeroSpace, LTD., have established a formal relationship. In this arrangement, the two will work together to explore the possibilities of the development and expansion of PD AeroSpace, LTD.’s commercial activities at Colorado Air and Space Port.
PD AeroSpace, LTD. is a spacecraft manufacturer with business offices in Nagoya, Japan, and a research and development facility in Hekinan City. PD AeroSpace is developing a reusable sub-orbital spaceplane for micro-gravity testing, space tourism, and eventually point-to-point transportation. Their spacecraft uses a patented propulsion system with dual jet and rocket technology to achieve sub-orbital flight. The company intends to use the Colorado Air and Space Port for the horizontal launch of this space plane.
“There was an instant connection between PD AeroSpace and our delegation through our presentations and tour of their facility in Hekinan City,” said Commissioner Steve O’Dorisio. “Similar to our operation at Colorado Air and Space Port, they (PD AeroSpace) are rapidly accelerating their pace of innovation with ambitious plans and the technical expertise to achieve their goals of operating in Colorado and around the world.”
Dawn Aerospace
On June 15, 2021, Dawn Aerospace (Dawn) and CASP announced an MOU, which lays out a series of future interactions that are mutually expected to occur between the two entities, but are not legally binding. Future actions include Dawn establishing a presence at CASP, working with CASP to create a relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and, eventually, conducting test flights and spaceplane launches.
“In order to provide unprecedented access to space, we’ve pursued technologies that will operate much like a fleet of aircraft – taking off and landing at airports globally,” said James Powell, Dawn co-founder. “We’re pleased to work with the supportive Adams County Board to bring our rocket-powered suborbital plane, and longer-term our orbital spaceplane, to Colorado.”
In December 2020, Dawn was granted an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Certificate by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority to fly from a conventional airport. Dawn’s Mk-II Aurora is their latest spaceplane iteration. Mk-III Aurora, a two-stage orbital system, is currently in development. Alongside the testing and development ongoing on the company’s spaceplanes, Dawn provides in-space satellite propulsion to its customers globally. Dawn has successfully seen eight of its in-space propulsion units launched in 2021 on Vega, Soyuz, and SpaceX vehicles.
Dawn Aerospace was awarded the 2020 Hi-Tech Start-up Company of the Year at the 2020 New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards for developing technology to access space in a more scalable and sustainable way than is currently possible with traditional rockets.
To learn more about Dawn Aerospace, visit their website.
Maxar
Colorado Air and Space Port is proud to partner with Maxar Space Systems. Maxar is a world-leading space technology and manufacturing company that delivers innovative solutions to government and commercial customers, helping them unlock the promise of space to solve problems on Earth and beyond.